Business Superhero: Stephen King

27 Oct 2016

With Halloween just around the corner, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to inject a little fright into my monthly Business Superhero blog by focusing on the master of scare: Stephen King.

King is, of course, well known for authoring dozens of novels, many of which subsequently became successful films. He is often portrayed solely as a horror specialist, although he also writes in the science fiction, fantasy, suspense, and general fiction genres.

The main reason I chose Stephen King for our October Business Superhero is not solely for his writing talent, although it plays a big part. The reason I find King inspirational is that he took something he loved to do and clearly had a talent for it and turned it into a business.

Instead of writing when the mood takes him or waiting for inspiration, King treats his writing as a job. A proper job. One that he takes very seriously. In a 1988 writing handbook, Stephen King wrote that he typically set himself a quota of 2000 words a day to write.

He said, “Read and write four to six hours a day. If you cannot find the time for that, you can’t expect to become a good writer.”

By setting himself targets and timescales, King turned his talent and enjoyment for writing into a profitable and regular job. We could all learn a thing or two from his dedication and work ethic.